Clutterbug - Real-Life Hacks and Tips to Declutter, Organize and Clean your Home Fast - 20 Million People Have Taken My Organizing Quiz, and This is the Truth About Your Messy Home | Clutterbug Episode #339

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

Hey Clutterbugs! Still confused about your organizing style? Over 20 million people have taken my Clutterbug quiz, but if you're still struggling with clutter, piles, and mess, let's diagnose you differently. Instead of asking what organizing systems work for you, I'm going to show you how to identify your style by looking at your mess. In this episode, I break down the 4 types of messy: the Dropper, the Shover, the Spreader, and the Piler. I'll teach you how to diagnose yourself in 30 seconds by looking at your kitchen counter, bathroom, and entryway. Those high-traffic spaces reveal your natural tendencies, not your fantasy self. I also share specific organizing advice for each Clutterbug style, answer listener questions about visual vs. hidden storage, and of course, give you a challenge to tackle while you listen. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly what your organizing style is and have made real progress in your home. Let's get organized! Take the free Clutterbug quiz: clutterbug.com/quiz Submit your organizing question: clutterbug.com/talktocas Watch "The 4 Types of Messy" video on my main YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GapRdPePh4 Download the free "What's Your Organizing Style" ebook (available on the quiz results page at clutterbug.com) Want to get organized? Learn 6-Step The Clutterbug Method: https://clutterbug.thinkific.com/courses/Clutterbug-Method You can find more Clutterbug content here: Main YouTube Channel: @Clutterbug Website: http://www.clutterbug.me TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clutterbug_me Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clutterbug_me/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Clutterbug.Me/ #clutterbug #podcast #organizinghacks #organizing #messy #cleaningmotivation #homehacks #selfimprovement #melrobbins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over 20 million people have taken my online clutter bug quiz and discovered their organizing style, which is so amazing. But the truth is, in order to know your organizing style, you have to know what works for you. What if you haven't found a system that works? What if you're still struggling with the clutter and the piles and the uncertainty that comes with a really messy home? There's another way to diagnose your style. So many of you have called a and ask questions about your organizing style. And one of the trends that I see over and over is that you're pretty sure you know your organizing style, but you could be a combination, or maybe you're a different style in different rooms. There is a bit of maybe confusion. And today, we're going to clear

that up. I'm going to help you 100% diagnose your style, and we're going to reverse engineer the quiz. Instead of looking at what works for you, let's take a look at. at your mess and let that diagnose you. About a month ago, I filmed a video called the Four Types of Messy on my regular YouTube channel. And I did this video because I was just, I felt a little bit, what's the word, exasperated at the amount of people who still weren't certain on their organizing style. I struggled to know why some people just got it and some people didn't. And when I walk into somebody's home, it takes me about 30 seconds to diagnose their style. Sometimes even just having a conversation with someone, I can immediately know what their organizing type is. And yet,

there's so many people who on their own were having trouble diagnosing themselves. And that's when I decided to look at it differently. Instead of just saying, these are the four ways to organize, I really wanted to evaluate deeper than that. Because not only are there four types. of organizing styles, there's also four types of messy, and they go together. Each different organizing style has a way that they put their things down that can contribute to mess. So not only a way to put things away, but a way that they naturally drop or they naturally shove or they naturally hide or they naturally pile. And I've definitely kind of like given it away right there, but the point of today's podcast is to break down the organizing styles differently, to break

down the different types of messy. So no matter if you have your entire house already organized or you're struggling and you have no idea how to get organized or what works for you, it will be crystal clear at the end of this podcast. Before we get started, just like always, you are not allowed. You are not allowed to just listen or watch this podcast. I want you to get up and take action. Why? Because you're freaking worth it. And the reality is your home affects your mood. your energy, your entire life. It is the foundation that everything else is built on. And when it's messy and chaotic, the rest of your life feels messy and chaotic too. How can you wake up and feel proud of yourself? How can you feel like energized to tackle the day when you're surrounded by

mess and clutter? Where everywhere you look, it's like making you feel awful about yourself. Today, we are changing that. Maybe not your entire house, but one small section. At the end of this podcast, you're going to feel so good, so proud of yourself. No excuses. I want you to pick one small space, and today we are organizing it. Not perfect, not Pinterest worthy, just better. So it's your junk drawer, it's one shelf in a closet, it's one kitchen cabinet, or it's one category. Go to that place, if it's a place you're picking, take everything out and put it back with zoning and structure and organization. One small, do not empty your entire kitchen on the counters. Okay, guys, that's not what I'm talking about. One small space. Or if you want to focus on a category, this is what I mean.

Pick light bulbs. Where are all your light bulbs? Get. gather them all together and then ask yourself, where would I look for these first? Or where is the ideal home for this and take them there now and give it a new home? This could go for batteries. Cords and cables is a good one because there's cords and cables all over the house. Manuals doesn't matter. It's don't overthink this. Whatever the first thing that comes into your mind is, that's what I want you to organize today. And if you like get it done quickly, move on to another space. By the end of this podcast, your home will be better. You're going to feel so good about yourself because you've made real progress. You don't have to declutter if you want to go for it. You

don't have to clean if you want to go for it. Today, we're going to make a space a little more streamlined, a little more practical, and a lot more organized. Okay, are you ready to jump into today's podcast? Let's talk about the first thing I do when I walk into someone's home. The first thing I do absolutely after I've greeted them, I've tried to put their mind at ease because usually they're embarrassed that I'm there and they're ashamed of their mess. I am immediately looking at how they put their things down. I walk in the front door and I am looking for wallets, purses, keys. Where are they setting and how are they setting their everyday things?

down. I'm not looking at like there's spices and maybe other things that are used occasionally. My eyes are looking for that high traffic, high touch shoes, I use it every day kind of stuff. Because that is going to tell me immediately what's working, what isn't and how they naturally put things down. That is going to tell me their organizing style. I'm looking at the front of their fridge, I'm looking at their kitchen table, I'm looking in their entranceway. If we're in the bedroom, I'm looking at the top of the dresser and their floor in front of the closet. All of these places are what immediately tell me their organizing style. And even if I'm not seeing organization, I can still know their organizing style because I can identify their type of messy.

and their type of messy correlates with their organizing style. I don't have to know what's working to know what will work for them. I definitely like to know what's working, and I'll ask them. I'll say, show me a space that absolutely works for you. I think what people hear when I say that is show me a space that's under control. And a lot of the times that could be a high traffic area, but most of the time they're going to show me a fantasy space. They're going to open up a linen closet that's hardly ever used and everything looks really good because they organize that space.

Or they're going to show me even like their day planner that's super mapped out and very detailed. And that gives me an idea of them, but it's not the whole picture. And sometimes this is like, yeah, it's throwing me for a loop. Sometimes this feels like, oh, they're showing me they are a really detailed person. But is that their fantasy self? because anyone can set up a system one time or even a few times that is really detailed or that's hidden. That's great, but that's not an indication of their natural tendencies on a day-to-day basis. I want to see how they put things down on their worst day, when they're tired, when they're

overwhelmed, when they don't have a perfect system. Because anyone, like I said, can maintain a space every now and then. And we're not organizing for that. That's not your actual organizing style. It's how you put things down every day all day long that counts. If you're new here and you have no idea what I'm talking about when I talk about all the different bug names, like what's a butterfly lady? Here's a quick breakdown.

What I discovered is organization is not one size fits all. And it became apparent after years of working with clients and trying to troubleshoot that there are four different styles. And when I discovered this, I decided to give them adorable bug names based on the actual insect and how it correlated with the organizing style. So a butterfly is a really visual person. It's out of sight, out of mind. They're attracted to their stuff. They feel energized by seeing their beautiful things. It motivates them to get stuff done. Just like the insect is attracted to beautiful flowers, butterflies are. attracted to their beautiful things and they want to see them. Also like the insect, there's not a lot of rhyme or reason. So a butterfly organizer is a non-detailed person. They need fast, easy systems, big categories, no lids, think one to two steps max to put something away. That is a butterfly.

A bee, like a butterfly, super visual. Think about the insect, attracted to beautiful flowers, but also like the insect, a bee is very methodical, very analytical, very detailed, very structured. They naturally organize. They naturally take the times to sort. When they're done with something, their brain is putting it into a category without even thinking about it, right? Think like mathematical perfection when it comes to a beehive. That's kind of like a home for a bee. Except it doesn't always look like that when they haven't got organized yet. They can spread and pile and neat little piles everywhere. Then we have the cricket.

A cricket is a really detailed person, just like a bee. They are methodical and analytical, and they're naturally sorting and organizing all the time. They love spreadsheets. But like the actual insect, you don't really see it. They prefer their things hidden and out of sight. So they're tucking. That's why they're piling in tight little piles to try to minimize the visual, noise. They're a hidden organizer. And last but not least, we have the ladybug. Also a hidden organizer

like a cricket. But unlike a cricket, they are not detailed at all. Their brain is not thinking in structures and categories and organization. And that's why they tend to shove and hide. They just want things out of sight. Like a butterfly, their brain's already moved on. But unlike a butterfly, they're not dropping. They're shoving and hiding their things in any nook or cranny all over the place to maintain this beautiful space. Now, the correlation between a bug, if you look at a ladybug, like the actual insect, it's so beautiful, right? It's got this like shiny, perfect shell. Have you seen when it opens up its wings? Their wings are all like jacked and crooked and look like they've been. It's like an unfolded sheet, okay? A rink.

called bailey mess. That's what their wings look like, which is why I chose the ladybug insect to represent that organizing style. So what I'm going to do is literally just correlate the four styles with the four types of messy. And we're going to start with a ladybug. When I walk into a ladybug's home, the first thing I'll notice is that it looks relatively tidy. Now, I don't know if they've tidied because I'm coming over. I always tell my clients not to do this, but I'll snoop the rest of their house to see too, right? So, but, but a ladybug generally has their living areas tidy, not piles, not clutter. In fact, they tend to be overly clean. Like, you'll walk into a ladybug's house and you're like, whoa, they have their life together. And if I step into a home and I get

that feeling, I immediately open their hall closet. I immediately open the first storage space that I see that's closed. And if it is a hot mess sandwich shoved and just hidden, that's their natural type of messy. A ladybug is a shover and a hider. A ladybug will shove and hide everything. You'll be done with a drinking glass and put it down and they'll shove it in the sink or in the dishwasher, even though you're not finished drinking out of it. There's like this compulsion almost for there to be no visual mess or clutter. And so it's misleading because you could walk in and think, oh, they don't need me or, oh, they have no problems and they're already organized. It's that looking in the hidden spots, that's that telltale sign. I'm looking for shoving.

I'm looking for the hiding. And every organizing style can do this. So you might be listening to this and say, well, my drawers are a hot mess too. And I shove and hide, especially when companies, he's coming over. A ladybug will shove and hide if no one's coming over. They'll shove and hide for themselves all day long. They're not going to live with this perpetual mess and piles. So while yes, anybody can shove and hide, there's a really, there's a difference with a ladybug because the surfaces will be clutter-free, 99% of the time, and they're shoving and hiding in every single hidden space. And that's what sets them apart. Everyone shoves and hides, yes. Especially a butterfly, they shove and hide. A butterfly's drawers and closets will look just like a ladybug's,

kind of a hodgepodge of mess, but their flat surfaces will also be a hodgepodge mess, right? So let's move on to that, a butterfly and how I diagnose a butterfly. As soon as I walk into a butterfly's home, I know that they're a butterfly because I see I see droppings everywhere. Not that kind of droppings. I see the things that they've had in their hand throughout the day kind of sprinkled over their stuff like fairy dust. I'll see their kitchen counter will have probably whatever they had for breakfast still out. I definitely will see shoes and coats and backpacks and purses laying dropped on surfaces. And again, any style can do this, right? What sets a butterfly apart is there's not going to be any

type of clear boundaries or separation with this dropping. So I'm not going to see a neat pile or even a sorted kind of dropping. These categories of their things will be mixed together. I will see a banana peel with their backpack and the bills that need to be paid. There will be memories and papers and dishes and everyday living things all together. Because this is exactly how a butterfly's brain works. Think of the butterfly like the actual insect, which is why I name them this. They flutter around, you know, from flower to flower, from thing to thing without that, like, the word is escaping me. They flutter around without the precision, without the like thought. I don't want to say they're not thinking, but let's get real. A butterfly is thinking about cool, creative, other stuff.

They're not thinking about how they're putting their stuff down. Their brain has already moved on, which is why they drop stuff all over the place. You will literally see like little trails as they move from one area of their home to another. So this leads me to the next, which is the B. And I'm going to be real with you, telling the difference between a bee and a cricket is actually really hard for me when they haven't decluttered enough. That's like if my client or anyone hasn't decluttered enough and they have a lot of excess, it's extremely hard to tell the difference between a bee and a cricket. But here's the things I look for when I come into a home and it's a bee home. These are the things I notice. I'll notice there's a lot of visual things out, again, like a butterfly.

The flat surfaces have this sprinkling all over. But unlike a butterfly, I'm going to see some structure and actual organization to the mess. I will look and see that there's groupings, like there's piles, really, and sorting going on. So they're not just willy-nilly dropping things down, though sometimes they may do that. For the most part, the majority of the mess actually has some rhyme and reason to it. You're not going to find a banana peel in with the bills that need to be paid. There is some structure there. And this is why it's hard because crickets and bees both pile.

They both pile. They both kind of sort naturally when they put things down. But the difference is a bee is so visual. They'll actually spread things out. so that it's not like hidden amongst a pile. Does this make sense? This is why it's so hard. It's so hard because a cricket also does this. But a cricket really gets stressed out by a lot of visual stimulation. So they tend to stack maybe higher or tighter or keep their piles to one small section while trying to maintain a lot of clear space, especially the stuff that they see visually. They will keep their piles more contained,

whereas a bee, they spread the piles out. Again, why I struggle is because if somebody has a lot of clutter, it looks the same because they have so much that they kind of have to spread all over the place. It's very difficult to diagnose the difference between a bee and a cricket until major decluttering has been done. But again, it's really obvious for me to know if they're a detailed person just by glancing around because you will see this natural. There's method to their madness. Even though it looks like a big disaster, things are actually sorted and spread and piled even though it looks like mess.

I do think a really kind of a little shortcut or an easy place to look to try to tell the difference between the two is actually in the bathroom. So I'll go into the bathroom because crickets tend to hide their everyday product. they'll put their toothbrush in the drawer or some like tuck it out of sight their deodorant their hairbrush their everyday items for a cricket tend to be hidden whereas a bee they'll be spread and sorted on the counter so if you're a bee or a cricket go to your bathroom and that might be a really good place to look but again if you have so much and you've never decluttered and your everyday products don't fit this can really be misleading so here's another thing I look let's let's let's let's let's

jump to the cricket. I go to a cricket's home, and I'm not sure, right, if they're a B or a cricket and I'm seeing the spread. I'll also ask them, where do you put your bills that have been paid? Where do you do your paperwork? Because let me tell you, crickets tend to like naturally handle their paperwork differently than a B. If I go into a place, whether it's an office or any other place with papers sorting, I'm going to see that a pile stacked higher and like Jenga stacked. So they'll put like one stack one way and then they'll like correlate it the other way and the other way. So even though it's a huge pile, it's a sorted pile, but it's contained into one, which is why the cricket is a piler. On the other hand, if I'm looking at paperwork for a B,

I'm going to see that those piles are more spread out, that they're going to have them not stacked on top of each other, but instead spread out amongst their desk, or you'll even see different piles on the floor or other surfaces, because they don't really want those paper piles touching and hidden in one giant pile. Another little trick that I tell the difference between a spreader, which is a B, and a piler, which is a cricket. Let's talk about some of the biggest cluttered triggers for each of the styles, right? So the things that are like the tipping point that puts them over the edge. And we'll start with the spreader, which is also the B. They're the same. The thing about a B is they start out pretty freaking organized. They're maybe spreading on surfaces and naturally

sorting into piles, but things can get out of control insanely quick when they have a new project that they're working on. Because a new project comes with a lot of tools. And this might be a project that they're not completing immediately, which means they've sorted and spread everything they need all over flat surfaces, usually work surfaces, and now they don't have space for living. You'll see this with crafters who are starting a craft project. Maybe it's tax time. So you've spread all your paperwork all over the place. It can even be cooking or baking, making dinner. You've spread things out in order to use the supply. that you want and it can create a catastrophe for sure. The other thing that is definitely

really hard for a bee, I think this is probably the hardest style to organize for hands down is because of the way that they spread and they have to see their things and the way that homes are designed, they don't go together. Bees tend to come with a lot of stuff. They are creative and they love to make things and they love lots of detailed categories and they want to naturally sort. But where do you put all these spread out neat little categories and piles? Your house isn't built for that. It has closet doors and it has like a few shelves. This is like death of organization. You don't want to shove and hide and have all your things mixed together. You want to spread. You want the separation, which means you need a place to put this that isn't a flat surface.

And most homes, all they're offering you is a flat surface. So now the floor becomes a place that you spread and pile. The top of your dresser, the top of your kitchen cabinets, the top of your table, everything just looks like chaos and mess. When in reality, it's actually sorted and organized, it just doesn't have a place to go that fits the way you put things down. Okay, so the thing that sucks the most. It just sucks. It sucks for all visual organizers. So bees and butterflies, you need less stuff than a hidden organizer, period. Because if we were to just shove and cram in closets, that's great. You'd put things away, but you're going to forget about it. You're not going to be triggered by seeing it and remember that you actually own it, which means you're wasting it. That doesn't mean you can

never use a hidden system. But it does mean that you need to be very, very aware that everything, even the closets that you open up, you have to see everything you own immediately. And you cannot physically do that when you have excess. It's impossible. So you either shove and hide it or have it so packed, so neatly organized and piled, you're still not seeing it. You're going to forget about it. And if everything's visual, then nothing's visual. That's the other problem. We can't have everything you own super, super, super out in the open with like floor to ceiling shelving on every wall. You're going to be overstimulated even though you're visual, which means you have to be really ruthless on what is worthy of space in your home and what isn't. Because we have to make sure the things that are worthy, you see them and that you find them beautiful and that it isn't chaotic. You need to still be able to spread and sort, but in a way that has purpose and that's easy to find everything and easy to put away. That does mean open shelving. It means pegboards. It means clear containers. It means stacking containers. It means

lots of shelving in closets. But it also means ruthlessly decluttering the things you don't use and love, which is ironic, especially for the be the spreader, because they see value in everything. Everything has purpose. Everything can be reused. What I've found, I'm not a scientist or a therapist, but here's my hypothesis. Visual organizers tend to, when they see something, give it, like have a more of an emotional response than hidden organizers. They just do. So because they're so visual, when they see something, it's invoking like memories.

It's evoking like purpose to them. But also with a B, they have that logical, analytical side, which means they are also their brains going a mile a minute and they're thinking, I don't want to be wasteful, and I could use this for something. And what if? And then they have that perfectionism mindset, which sometimes can lead to perfectionism paralysis. Like, what if I make a mistake? They just overthink everything and they have that emotional attachment that comes with visual, which is why it's hardest for a bee to let go. It's harder than any other organizing style because they have both of those things, the visual and that overthinking brain happening at the

same time. I'm going to give you guys some advice, advice for each of these styles. And first of all, listening to this, if you're like, I'm still not 100% clear, I did that video, the four types of messy, where I talked about the dropper, the spreader, the piler, and the shover. And people would say to me, well, I do all of those things a little bit. Like I shove here and I and I hide here and I pile here. Yeah, of course we do. I make piles on my desk sometimes of things I want to deal with and sometimes I spread things out when I'm currently working on a project. I really want you to think about those high traffic spaces that you touch every single day. Just like your organizing style, this isn't, oh, this is a spectrum. So look at your kitchen counter, look at your bathroom counter,

look at your entranceway, those three areas, you touch those things and the items in them every day. What are you noticing about those messes? Do you tend to shove most of the things and they're pretty clear? You're a ladybug. Do you tend to make little neat piles, but only a few or only in a few areas and most of the surfaces are clear than you're a piler, which means you're a cricket? Is everything everywhere? Is there everything mixed together in these areas? And there's like spread all over the place but also dropped in all. piled, you are a dropper, which means you're a butterfly. And if these spaces are clear, but the drawers and the closets are looking like a disaster, you are a shover or a ladybug. So here's the advice that I have for each of you. If you are a dropper, you actually need more flat surfaces, which is ironic, right? Is that the word for irony? Listen, I always struggle. The point is you're putting things. You're dropping on every flat surfaces. You need more places to drop, which means adding shelving, not more flat surfaces that are at waste level, but more flat surfaces that are from

waist to the top of your head level. So get floating shelves, install like wall shelves if you have to, and then get bins and baskets to drop into. Shallow trays even. Give yourself kind of like a spreader makes natural piles and sorts, you need to have your system do this for you with bins and baskets that are clearly labeled so your brain is dropping without thinking, but it's going into a structured organized system so you can find things later. If you are a ladybug and you are a shover and a hider, you kind of need to do the same thing, but inside your hidden areas, you have to make sure your closets have lots of shelves with containers that are labeled. So when you are shoving, it's going into a compartment. It's going into a sorted category that's really clear so that you don't

have a Monica closet where everything's jumbled and you have to pull stuff out to find what you need. You can still put it away like a basketball fast, but everything has a place to go. Inside every drawer have cheap drawer dividers. So you can toss, but it's going with in the category where it's belongs. That's what works. If you are a cricket, this is tough, but something that absolutely works for you is giving yourself hidden storage. Like giving yourself a place that you can still pile things, but it isn't out in the open. Because a cricket is really triggered by your piles. You see them as a to-do. And there are a lot of things that you're piling aren't things you actually have to take action on. You just don't have a place for them to go. Get yourself some banker boxes.

If you're watching this on the video, you'll see that there's boxes behind me that are just cardboard stacking boxes that are labeled. You can put your piles into there or have something like a project box if something's still ongoing so that it gives you that hidden simplicity that you're craving while allowing you to still have a proper home. You're not shoving. You're still piling, but you're piling into a hidden vessel. And last but not least, if you are a B, you, You are spreading and you want to spread. My best advice, you're going to hate it. Just bear with me, B, is to have less, okay? To take a little trash bag donation box trip through your space and try to get rid of 10% just right off the bat. Like for every nine things you want to keep, can one thing go.

I think that's the best place to start is having less. And then just like the butterfly, we want to give you vertical storage. Pegboards work awesome because you can still spread and have it have a place to go. Again, shelving is so good. You want clear shallow trays, clear containers. You can still see your stuff and spread it out, but it isn't going to like spread on flat surfaces. You're taking advantage of that vertical space. If you are still not sure your organizing style, if you're still like thinking, but I'm this and I could be this and I could be this and I could be this and I could be this, guess what? You are either a bee or a cricket, period. Okay? If you are overthinking and over-analyzing and overstressing about what your category is, you're a detailed person, period.

And I just saw this adorable video. I have this course called The Clutterbug Method, where I really go into details about this and how to organize for your style. And a lady posted a video of this like epiphany that she had. For years, she's been a follower. She's taken the course. She still was not sure until she got to the module where I said, if you're still not sure, you are detailed. And it was hilarious because she was showing me a video of her home. And within one second, I knew she was a bee. It took about like beat, beat, beat, she's a because I could see her type of messy. I could see that things were spread.

I could see that she had lots of little tiny categories. But she was seeing it as, well, I'm dropping things here and everything's a mess. Maybe I'm a butterfly. But also, I like to have lots of little piles. So maybe I'm a cricket. And I was like, girl, you're the beest of all bees. You're wearing the bee crown. Because again, that detailed, super detailed, overthink.

brain was very obvious in her categories and her natural sorting and the fact that she wasn't sure her style. But also, I could tell how visual she was. I could see that the front of her fridge was covered in reminders. I could see that she wanted to see her things subconsciously. So sometimes, if you are an overthinker, my love, it's probably because you're a bee or cricket, just saying, no, actually, you 100% are a bee or a cricket. But also, if you're still not sure, or you have a question about your space, I want to help. Go to clutterbug.com slash talk to cast and record me a question or share something about your space and I will help diagnose you or answer that question or come up with a custom solution that will work just for you. Or I'll just give you some tough love

and tell you to throw out that hideous purse that your mom got you that you don't actually really like. That's what I'm here for. So go to clutterbug.com slash Talk to Cass and record a question to me today. And speaking of Talk to Cass, we have some today, and let's start with Paula. Hi, Cass, my name is Paula. I'm from Brazil. I've always been a bee, but due to ADHD and Fibro, also multiple cats. I have been trying to lead both my stuff.

I wanted to know if you have any advice to help with this transition, since it's the complete opposite of how I would prefer my stuff to be organized. Thank you in advance. Yeah, yeah, Paula, don't do that. Don't, don't ladybug at all. But I think I know what you're saying because I think you want to be able to just shove things quickly away. And that's fine. What you actually want to do is butterfly your stuff because you're still like, that's the beautiful thing.

A butterfly and a ladybug are so similar. And you can still have solid bins for some of the things you're not going to forget about. But you must label. And in fact, I'd recommend you not having a door on closets, places that you tend not to put things away, just taking off the closet doors, which is very unladybug. You can still have that space not look crazy overwhelming by giving yourself solid containers that are clearly labeled so they're still visual. But you want to stop that friction of having to open a door. Because you also want to have, if the doors are off, and you're not. you can see your things, it's going to stop that unconscious, like subconscious desire to leave

things out. That's it. You're afraid out of sight, out of mind. So ladybug is like the worst thing you could do. But butterfly is a perfect combination. There's lots of examples. Again, if you go to clutterbub.com and you go to the quiz page, find out, go to butterfly, scroll to the bottom, you'll see that there's a free ebook called What's Your Organizing Style? You can download that. And there's a lot of visual examples that you can see exactly what I'm talking about when I'm talking about this butterfly home that you're going to strive towards. Let's hear from Hannah. Hi, Cass. This is Hannah from Pennsylvania. And I have a rant slash do it shitty. So I'm in the part of my life where a lot of my friends are getting married. I just got married last year.

And everybody is getting China. Like our parents give it to us and our aunts give it to us and our grandparents give it to us and were pressure to register for China anyway, which like, what the hell? Because these dishes are supposed to be displayed where I need my scissors and or they're supposed to be packed away carefully in a box and used on holidays. But we don't remember to use them on holidays because they're packed away in a box and we never see them. And like, yeah, they're pretty. But they're basically just, just guilt clutter. And I think the reason that we have so much is because nobody wants it. Like, even the older people that are telling us that we want it. They don't want it. That's why they're giving it to us. And women get so much more China. It's like one from every

side of the family back four generations. What the hell am I supposed to do with all this China? So, um, I've decided that for one set of China that is super nice and fancy, it's like bohemian, gold trimmed, whatever the, yeah, like they're pretty. I'm just going to use them. I'm just, I'm passing on my dollar store dishes that I bought when I was 20 and they felt expensive to a friend who's 20. And I'm going to take one of these sets of China and I'm going to slowly destroy them by enjoying them every single day and putting it in the dishwasher because it's a damn plate and it doesn't pay rent here. So it doesn't get to be in a display case. I'm just going to use it. Because, you know, whatever.

And I think that all of us, elder Gen Z or baby millennials, should just pick one set of China that you want to keep if that matters to you and just use the rest as your daily dishes. Because why the hell not? Because yeah, they're going to get used up. But then we don't have to store them. And we won't have to burden our children with yet another set of freaking China. I don't know if this is like, a super relatable issue, but for anybody with like boomer parents who really care about their family history, you probably have some China. And let's stop treating it like it's made of gold. And let's treat it like it's just gold painted plates. Let's use it. Who's with me? Also, I love you. And you are my internet big sister. And big thank you from My husband, whose favorite words out of my mouth are it's a clutter bug day because we both have ADHD and the only time our home is ever like somewhat clean or organized is when I'm actually listening to you. So thank you for all that you do for me.

And thank you on behalf of my husband. You're the best. Use your china. Hannah, that was so good. I would love to be your big sister because I'm pretty sure we'd get along. That is such good advice. I actually took that advice. I've been married 20 years. I got a set of an eight-piece set of Martha Stewart, China. I registered for it. So that was my bad, you know, back of the day from Sears catalog, because I'm my old Hannah. But anyways, it was gorgeous. It was so beautiful. I knew it was so expensive. It was like $500 20 years ago. And I never used it. It was taking up space. So finally, I'm like, we're going to start using it. Guess what? That crap broke like immediately. I broke. I broke. I broke. I remember I broke a plate. I dropped a bowl.

My kid dropped a bowl. The dishwasher was beating it up. And then I didn't have a full set anymore, which was like, what do you do with it now? When you have four plates, three bowls and two freaking tea cups for some reason. And it was so stressful for me. I'm like, do I buy more of the? What are you doing, Cass? So when I was in New York, I met this producer who may or may not be hiding in the background of this podcast right now.

And she talked about going to a smash. room in New York where you'd smash things. And so, like, it was like 20, 22 at the time. And I was super stressed about this, like, half, like the China that I broke half of it, which was causing me guilt. And I'm like, can I donate these freaking four, like, who's going to want this? So, instead of paying for it, I put it in a box and I took a hammer in the back. And I, and I felt so weird. But I smashed it, guys. I smashed it. And I was like, I was going through a time where I needed a little cathartic and it took care of two problems. One, I felt a lot better. And two, I didn't have to stress about what to do with this leftover kind of expensive pieces of China.

So yes, use it, Hannah, but know when a bunch of them are broken because they are not durable. Okay. Expensive China sucks as a dish. It just, it's terrible. When this happens, then you get to have the fun of smashing it and get out all your aggression to. So and for those of you were like, you should have donated it, Cass. Look at me. Just. And last but not least, we have a question from Stephanie. Hey, Cass, Stephanie here from North Alabama. I have been following you for a little while now and love that I can put you on and fill a trash bag and go through a ton of stuff in my house that I'm trying to get rid of.

20 plus years of collection here. But I do have a question. I have been through nursing school. I have an associate's degree. I have a bachelor's degree. And then I have my master's in neonatology, neonatal nurse practitioner. I have a ton of nursing textbooks.

I feel really guilty about trying to get rid of those. But also they're just sitting in my, what is about to be my craft room and collecting dust. Is there a great way to get rid of these? Do you suggest anything? I hate just the one I'm in the trash. I know that the money is spent on them. I know that they are outdated.

But what can I do with these books that were such a huge part of my professional and personal life? Thanks. Okay, Stephanie, I love it. this question so much. This is so hard. And I just, I never really went to school, but I went to firefighting school. And I had a giant textbook that I immediately donated and decluttered when I was done. And it felt really super weird. But here's what I want to say. If these textbooks are still like, like a, they're probably not. So this is why I'm saying it. But if they are a recent copy, textbooks are expensive. And so a lot of schools,

have that like gently used secondhand textbooks that you can donate back to the school that they'll provide for students who can't afford a new textbook. My gut tells me that these are outdated, that they're old. So here's what you can do. Goodwill has specialty thrift stores that just have books. And my daughters and I go there because Abby found out about this through a friend of hers. if you're not sure what you want to go to school for, a lot of kids will actually pick up textbooks, old textbooks from Goodwill. And we did this with Abby. We went and got a copy of Grey's Anatomy. We went and got a copy of first year university biology book. Isabel went and got psychology books when she wasn't sure what she wanted to take in university. And even though these were

old textbooks, they helped my kids determine if this is something they were interested in actually learning about in post-secondary education. So I think your old textbooks can actually really help kids determine if they want to be a nurse or not, if they want to do this. So donating to a used bookstore, even though these may not be relevant textbooks they can use in class, I think this is a really good opportunity for kids to dip their toe in the water before committing to four years of education and a lot of people are doing this. So know that if you're donating your textbooks to a used bookstore, that they are actually going to good use because someone can use them to see if this is the future that they want for themselves. I hope you got something organized today. Do me a

favor right now if you are still like in the middle, you know, the messy middle. Because to get truly organized, you do have to pull everything out of a small space, which is why we do one small space at a time. If you are in the messy middle right now, I want you to finish good enough. I want you to put things back at least better. We are going for 1% better. This is not a waste of your time because I guarantee you found things you forgot about. You've probably let go of some things you've realized you didn't need. And you've made a system that's going to be easier tomorrow, even if it's just a fraction easier, a little bit better. This is part of the process. So don't leave your space messier than when you started. Put it back right now, friends.

And if your brain, you little bees and crickets, are like, well, I don't want to put it back until I buy containers to put it back properly. Stop it. Put it back right now, good enough. You can always go back and make it better later. This is an ongoing process. You're never totally done. So why are you worried about doing things perfectly right off the bat? Make it better. celebrate your success. And now go have a, like a tea or a coffee or a dirty soda and spend some time just having fun today. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me. I hope you're feeling inspired. I hope you've diagnosed your organizing style. And I'll catch you in the next one.